Mixing Two Religions, High School Football and Christianity, Has One Georgia Coach In Hot Water

A few hours from when I type this, Mark Mariakis, the head football coach at Ridgeland High School in Rossville, Ga., will speak at a news conference in the school's auditorium to make his first public statements since an atheist activist group, reacting to a "local complaintant," started sending him and his district letters about the coach's mixing religion and public schools.

I suspect Mariakis, strengthened by at least two Facebook support groups with more than 10,000 likes combined (based on a town with 4,500 people in it), an upcoming car wash in his honor, and supportive signs around town, is not going to say, "You know what, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is right." But he should.

No matter how homogeneous the makeup of the school, there is no need or expectation for having someone in a position of authority force other people's children into a religious ceremony, service or lecture. If you want that, send you child to a religious school. As a Christian, my ample nose would be out of joint if I found out my son's high school football team was involved in some religious ceremony, or there was pressure to conform to some particular faith, Christian or otherwise. Aren't there more than enough Vince Lombardi quotes lying around to supply sufficient inspiration?

If players or coaches want to pray individually, or a few players want to pray together without the threat that you're somehow not a good teammate if you don't participate, that's all well and good. But religion is a highly personal thing, and elevating a particular faith as the Official Team God is not only unconstitutional, but it threatens to tear apart the team as internecine battles happen, externally or internally, over who has the Right God.

And so is morality -- as in, the morality of making your religion a positive force in your life and in others, rather than it being a metaphorical cudgel with which to metaphorically beat the nonbelievers into submission, or at least a Facebook like.

UPDATE: Mariakis, in his news conference, thanked the community for its support. According to local media reports, Walker County Superintendent of Schools Damon Raines, who also was named in the foundation's letter, said that many of the allegations in it were false, though he also hinted that the district's response letter to the foundation might contain some changes to how things have been done. “The Walker County Board of Education feels that we are in compliance with all federal and state laws and will continue to monitor and scrutinize areas that are considered questionable,” the Walker Messenger quoted Raines as saying.